As we get closer to Christmas I start craving wintery treats. You may think that’s odd because I live in Sydney where Christmas is in the middle of summer, but I’m from Croatia and am still used to November and December bringing snow and delicious, wintery flavours.

I absolutely adore a sweet gingerbread cake and while I usually make it as an upside down pear and ginger cake I had pears that were very soft and baking them would destroy them completely. I decided to do a ginger cake with a fresh pear garnish and a sweet caramel topping. It turned out very delicious, I’m secretly thinking about one more piece…. just one more! If you like a sweet treat you will love this vegan gluten free ginger cake recipe.

It’s my birthday today and since I’m not a sweet tooth I didn’t really want cake. All I wanted was a plate of my late Nonna’s luleki.

Luleki are basically gnocchi that are rolled into oblong shapes and panfried (instead of roundish shape and boiled in salt water). The dough is exactly the same as gnocchi but the panfrying gives them a naughty comfort food quality. These luleki are vegan and gluten free.

The lovely folks at Conscious Foods gave us a 1kg bag of Pura Veda to give away to our lovely readers. If you’re not familiar with Pura Veda, it’s a blend of unprocessed seeds and ancient grains. It provides you with the right amount of protein, fibre and fats in every mouthful. +

This roast pumpkin spiced soup recipe is really a way to sneak tofu into our food without my husband noticing. He’s a pumpkin fan and not fond of tofu so I saw this a wonderful opportunity.

This pumpkin soup is also full of vegetable goodness, with spinach and zucchini sneaked in for good measure. I used indian biryani paste as a way to spice things up a little. I’m not a natural in the kitchen so I use spice pastes where possible. There ain’t nothin wrong with a bit of help!

The roast pumpkin gives the soup a wonderful caramel taste. I served this with quinoa chia bread with hummus and olive oil. The garnish is some paprika, pink himalayan rock salt and crushed pistachios. YUM!